I think Dan himself said it all in his latest blog Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Blogging about what makes a good blog work. I have been following Dan Meyer's blog for years. When I first discovered blogs, I was super excited for all the information I was going to get from people like me and at the networking that would occur. Over the years, the number of blogs that I follow have dwindled significantly and Dan's is the only one I follow without fail. I love his blog so much that I have subscribed through email so I never forget to read it and so I can keep the ones that have resources or people that I want to keep referring back to. In the following paragraphs, I will explain why this is, in my opinion, the best math blog out there and why other math bloggers should take note.
First, Dan gives examples of different ways for teachers to do things and gives student work as examples. Dan was a teacher for several years and is still in contact with many math teachers so he still has access to teacher ideas and student work through them. I believe this is an essential part of a blog since the two top things I am looking for when I read a blog are ideas and connections to people with ideas. Second, Dan's blog is clean. He attaches videos, pictures, links, etc. only if they pertain to that specific blog and they always click to a new page. Dan is never trying to advertise for another company or sell anything. He talks about his company, Desmos, in his blog posts but this is a free resource for students and teachers and there are absolutely no advertisements on the blog page itself. I appreciate this so much because I believe the focus of a blog should be the information in the blog and the people involved in the discussion. Third, Dan's blog has evolved over the ten years. Dan's company, Desmos, is committed to helping reluctant math learners understand math through the use of technology. Dan uses his own experience as a math teacher and current math teachers experiences to learn new ideas and continue to grow. As you look over the years of blog archives, you get a sense of where Dan (and the math teachers that comment on his blogs) were ten years ago and how they got to where they are now. Since I have been following his blog for so long, I feel like my teaching and my classes have grown along with all of them. Finally, and I believe most importantly, Dan does not write his blogs alone. I don't mean that he isn't the author or that most of the words are not his, but the blog and Dan's thoughts and resources come from a huge group of math educators that read his blog and share comments and resources. Blogs without comment sections are really just journals put out there for everyone to read. Dan's blog is a collaboration of highly competent professionals that I can l thankfully learn from all in one place.
In conclusion, I believe there are four main things that make a blog work.
1. Give resources, because first and foremost that is what teachers need.
2. Keep the blog clean and free from distractions. You can work the resources in without a lot of annoying advertisements and distracting pictures.
3. Make sure your blog grows with you. Don't do the same old thing all the time because it has always worked. Just like you expect from your students, stretch and take risks as you write.
4. Don't write your blog alone. The best ideas come from lots of people together. This means you need to have a comments section and be willing to take the constructive criticism along with the praise.
. Blogs that don't work (sort of): http://teachinghighschoolmath.blogspot.com/ http://misscalculate.blogspot.com/ http://iblog.dearbornschools.org/tahaa/
The second part of this assignment was to write about blogs in my content area that do not work. I am a little hesitant with this because this is a public portfolio and I am not at all comfortable criticizing someone else's work. Also I had a really hard time finding a math blog that was not good. So instead, I have listed three blogs that I believe are not as good as Dan Meyer's (yet) but with a little change could be. In the next couple of paragraphs I will explain what could be done to make these blogs better.
First, I do not like the advertisements and distracting pictures in one of the blogs. I have said it many times already and I know I sound like a broken record, but this really bugs me. I believe professional blogs meant for adults should be clean, easy to read, and easy to find resources. Dan Meyer does this so well with simple links and because we are teachers, we don't need to be "wowed" by resources, but instead, need them to be simply available to us. Second, blogs should be a conversation of sorts, with the author posting a thought or idea and others commenting and discussing. These blogs come off more as a journal than a discussion partially because there are so few comments. I am not sure how this can be fixed until the bloggers get more followers and that may just take time. Also, these blogs really only speak of the author's own experience which may or may not relate to other math teachers' experiences and do not contain student work for other teachers to see. In Dan Meyer's blog, he rarely talks about himself, but instead brings up problems in math education that need to be solved, especially how to get students interested in learning math. This is something that every math teacher is interested in and therefore Dan has many followers of and contributors to his blog. One good thing I noticed about two of these blogs is that they do link to Dan's blog. I think with time and more experience, those two blogs could be more useful and attract more followers. The last blog example that I listed really is not a blog at all. This teacher is using the blog to list assignments for her students. This most likely is not meant for teachers to follow, but is not the best use of the blog format. As I said above, education blogs are best when they allow other teachers to discuss, network, and get ideas from each other.
In conclusion, if a blog is meant for other teachers, don't try to make it cutesy or fun, but remember your audience and keep it professional. If you want to attract a lot of followers, make sure to link to helpful resources that will be useful to most teachers in your discipline and make sure to allow your followers to comment and contribute ideas. Finally, and most importantly, listen to the professionals that follow your blog and allow it to change and grow from helpful suggestions and also by reading and contributing to others' blogs.
Resources:
Meyer, Dan. "Dy/dan." Dydan. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2016.
Jennifer. "Teaching High School Math." Teaching High School Math. N.p., 2016. Web. 08 Oct. 2016.
Miller, Elissa. "Misscalcul8." Misscalcul8. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2016.
Taha. "Mrs. Taha's Math Blog Dearborn Public Schools." Mrs Tahas Math Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2016.
Edublogs (Part 2)
Blogs that work:
Dan Meyer's dy/dan:
http://blog.mrmeyer.com/
I think Dan himself said it all in his latest blog Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Blogging about what makes a good blog work. I have been following Dan Meyer's blog for years. When I first discovered blogs, I was super excited for all the information I was going to get from people like me and at the networking that would occur. Over the years, the number of blogs that I follow have dwindled significantly and Dan's is the only one I follow without fail. I love his blog so much that I have subscribed through email so I never forget to read it and so I can keep the ones that have resources or people that I want to keep referring back to. In the following paragraphs, I will explain why this is, in my opinion, the best math blog out there and why other math bloggers should take note.
First, Dan gives examples of different ways for teachers to do things and gives student work as examples. Dan was a teacher for several years and is still in contact with many math teachers so he still has access to teacher ideas and student work through them. I believe this is an essential part of a blog since the two top things I am looking for when I read a blog are ideas and connections to people with ideas. Second, Dan's blog is clean. He attaches videos, pictures, links, etc. only if they pertain to that specific blog and they always click to a new page. Dan is never trying to advertise for another company or sell anything. He talks about his company, Desmos, in his blog posts but this is a free resource for students and teachers and there are absolutely no advertisements on the blog page itself. I appreciate this so much because I believe the focus of a blog should be the information in the blog and the people involved in the discussion. Third, Dan's blog has evolved over the ten years. Dan's company, Desmos, is committed to helping reluctant math learners understand math through the use of technology. Dan uses his own experience as a math teacher and current math teachers experiences to learn new ideas and continue to grow. As you look over the years of blog archives, you get a sense of where Dan (and the math teachers that comment on his blogs) were ten years ago and how they got to where they are now. Since I have been following his blog for so long, I feel like my teaching and my classes have grown along with all of them. Finally, and I believe most importantly, Dan does not write his blogs alone. I don't mean that he isn't the author or that most of the words are not his, but the blog and Dan's thoughts and resources come from a huge group of math educators that read his blog and share comments and resources. Blogs without comment sections are really just journals put out there for everyone to read. Dan's blog is a collaboration of highly competent professionals that I can l thankfully learn from all in one place.
In conclusion, I believe there are four main things that make a blog work.
1. Give resources, because first and foremost that is what teachers need.
2. Keep the blog clean and free from distractions. You can work the resources in without a lot of annoying advertisements and distracting pictures.
3. Make sure your blog grows with you. Don't do the same old thing all the time because it has always worked. Just like you expect from your students, stretch and take risks as you write.
4. Don't write your blog alone. The best ideas come from lots of people together. This means you need to have a comments section and be willing to take the constructive criticism along with the praise.
.
Blogs that don't work (sort of):
http://teachinghighschoolmath.blogspot.com/
http://misscalculate.blogspot.com/
http://iblog.dearbornschools.org/tahaa/
The second part of this assignment was to write about blogs in my content area that do not work. I am a little hesitant with this because this is a public portfolio and I am not at all comfortable criticizing someone else's work. Also I had a really hard time finding a math blog that was not good. So instead, I have listed three blogs that I believe are not as good as Dan Meyer's (yet) but with a little change could be. In the next couple of paragraphs I will explain what could be done to make these blogs better.
First, I do not like the advertisements and distracting pictures in one of the blogs. I have said it many times already and I know I sound like a broken record, but this really bugs me. I believe professional blogs meant for adults should be clean, easy to read, and easy to find resources. Dan Meyer does this so well with simple links and because we are teachers, we don't need to be "wowed" by resources, but instead, need them to be simply available to us. Second, blogs should be a conversation of sorts, with the author posting a thought or idea and others commenting and discussing. These blogs come off more as a journal than a discussion partially because there are so few comments. I am not sure how this can be fixed until the bloggers get more followers and that may just take time. Also, these blogs really only speak of the author's own experience which may or may not relate to other math teachers' experiences and do not contain student work for other teachers to see. In Dan Meyer's blog, he rarely talks about himself, but instead brings up problems in math education that need to be solved, especially how to get students interested in learning math. This is something that every math teacher is interested in and therefore Dan has many followers of and contributors to his blog. One good thing I noticed about two of these blogs is that they do link to Dan's blog. I think with time and more experience, those two blogs could be more useful and attract more followers. The last blog example that I listed really is not a blog at all. This teacher is using the blog to list assignments for her students. This most likely is not meant for teachers to follow, but is not the best use of the blog format. As I said above, education blogs are best when they allow other teachers to discuss, network, and get ideas from each other.
In conclusion, if a blog is meant for other teachers, don't try to make it cutesy or fun, but remember your audience and keep it professional. If you want to attract a lot of followers, make sure to link to helpful resources that will be useful to most teachers in your discipline and make sure to allow your followers to comment and contribute ideas. Finally, and most importantly, listen to the professionals that follow your blog and allow it to change and grow from helpful suggestions and also by reading and contributing to others' blogs.
Resources:
Meyer, Dan. "Dy/dan." Dydan. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2016.
Jennifer. "Teaching High School Math." Teaching High School Math. N.p., 2016. Web. 08 Oct. 2016.
Miller, Elissa. "Misscalcul8." Misscalcul8. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2016.
Taha. "Mrs. Taha's Math Blog Dearborn Public Schools." Mrs Tahas Math Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2016.